


The Smartest In the Room

by darkgirl11



Category: Code Lyoko
Genre: Anger, Arguing, Astrophysics, Crying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Friendship, IQ test, M/M, Mental Breakdown, Mild Swearing, Odd centric, Odd doesn't mean any harm, Odd has low key been smart the whole time, Odd is helpful, Odd is like a whirling dervish of emotions, Odd isn't dumb, Odd isn't stupid, Odd just wants things to go back to normal, Odd loves physics, Odd roasts Jeremie, Odd roasts Mrs. Hertz, Odd snaps, Odd tells a fun science fact, Odd's been living a lie, Oddrich, Physics, Quantum Mechanics, Reconciliation, Sadness, Science, Science Rules - Bill Nye, Short Story, Smart Odd, Ulrich is understanding, Ulrich x Odd, UxO, atoms and molecules, emotional disaster, good boyfriend Ulrich, he's just sick of everyone thinking he's not smart, quantum physics, science roast, science talk, sexual theme for a hot second
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-23
Updated: 2020-11-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:07:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27678535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkgirl11/pseuds/darkgirl11
Summary: After one too many people questioning and belittling Odd's intelligence, he finally snaps.
Relationships: Jeremie Belpois/Aelita Schaeffer, Odd Della Robbia & Ulrich Stern, Odd Della Robbia/Ulrich Stern
Comments: 4
Kudos: 43





	The Smartest In the Room

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! This is my 50th story on Ao3 so I'm so happy about that! Wooo!! Anyways, I was actually really nervous to post this story. I wanted it to be a lot shorter than it actually is but I kept on writing. I wanted to end the story on a bit of a positive note but also leave room for a continuation, if wanted. I just remember reading how Odd has a lot of potential academically but he doesn't study or apply himself to school so I took that and ran with it. Of course, I altered it a bit but I just really wanted to write a story where Odd's smarter than Jeremie and Aelita but he's been hiding it.
> 
> The title for this story was inspired by lyrics from the Hamilton song "Non-Stop" when Aaron Burr sings "Why do you assume you're the smartest in the room?" Another song that was inspiring me while writing was "Overwhelmed" by Royal and the Serpents feat. Chri$tian Gate$ (thank you packook for introducing me to that song!) 
> 
> Thank you all for tuning in for my 50th story on Ao3! I hope you all enjoy it! :)
> 
> There's a hot second where Odd speaks Italian so here is the translation:  
> C'è un posto speciale all'inferno per persone come te. = There is a special place in hell for people like you.

Everyone knew that Odd’s mind was far too artistic for his own good. Odd was known for folding his exam papers into origami cranes, each once getting better than the last one. He prided himself in being the class clown and the class artist. He wasn’t known for being the smartest in the room and he was okay with that.

Until one day.

Odd’s day started out normal. He woke up with a smile because he was in Ulrich’s arms. He grinned when he saw that Ulrich was still fast asleep. He slithered out of Ulrich’s grasp and stood up on the bed. He was giggling mischievously as he jumped up and landed right on his lover. Ulrich’s eyes shot open at the rude awakening. He was ready to yell at whoever attacked him until he saw who was straddling him.

“Good morning, Ulrich!”

“Did you _have_ to wake me up like that?”

Ulrich shook his head as he took his ear plugs out. Odd losing himself in his thoughts as he answered, “Well, I guess next time I could drag you out of bed by your feet like a demon in the night. But, I could also just throw a bucket of cold water on you. Hmm, but you know, I could definitely just dye your hair purple while you’re sleeping and wait for you to scream in the bathroom when you see yourself in the mirror.”

Odd was brought out of his thoughts when Ulrich grabbed him by his hips and flipped their position. Odd had a light pink blush on his face as he felt his arms getting pinned above his head. Ulrich was looking down at him with an animalistic look in his eyes that made his smaller lover shudder.

The brunette leaned in so that he was whispering in Odd’s ear, “If you do any of those things to me then just know that you won’t be able to walk normal for a week. I’ll make sure everyone asks you why you’re walking funny and that’s when you get all flustered… and then we’ll see who’s laughing.”

The blonde gasped when he felt his lover kissing and sucking on his neck. He arched his back and moaned when he felt Ulrich kiss up and down his neck. He knew he was going to have a hickey on his neck after this but right now, he didn’t care. He would let Ulrich do whatever he wanted to his body. He could never deny him.

“Hey, are you guys awake? You want to eat, don’t you?”

Jeremie was knocking on their door to gather them for breakfast. Ulrich called back to him, letting him know that they would be ready in a few minutes. Odd groaned in annoyance when Ulrich hopped off of him to let their friend in their room. Odd kicked his feet over the edge of the bed and yawned loudly.

Jeremie was about to greet Odd when he froze. Odd gave his friend a questioning look. Jeremie felt his face heating up when he noticed the freshly made hickey on his friend’s neck. Jeremie looked back at Ulrich and then focused on Odd, putting it together that they were definitely going to fuck before he knocked on the door.

“Why are you looking at me like that, Einstein?”

“I, uh… I didn’t mean to interrupt…”

Odd was confused until he moved his hands to his neck to crack it. He gasped when he felt the slight pain from the side of his neck Ulrich had been sucking. He blushed when he realized that Jeremie had spotted his hickey. Ulrich was snickering to himself as he got dressed for the day. He was sure that Odd wouldn’t try to use any of his crazy ideas to wake him up now.

“C'è un posto speciale all'inferno per persone come te.*”

“What was that, Odd?”

“Just professing my love for you, Ulrich _darling!”_

Jeremie might not be performing well in his Italian class but he was pretty sure he heard the world “hell” in there. Odd turned to Jeremie and put a finger to his lips in a shushing manner. He winked to the blonde with glasses, giggling to himself. Jeremie shook his head with a smile. These two were something else.

Eventually, the trio made their way to the cafeteria to join their friends. Ulrich and Odd were sitting across from Jeremie and Aelita. Odd smiled when he saw Yumi come over to sit next to him. He would’ve made a joke about how Yumi and Ulrich made an Odd sandwich but he was far too hungry at the moment.

Everyone was chatting at the table but Odd noticed that there was one person who seemed out of it. He shifted his attention to Aelita as he asked, “Hey, what’s got you so down today, princess? You haven’t touched your food and you’re not as cheery as you usually are, so, what’s up?”

She let out a sigh as she placed her fork on her tray. She looked at her friends as she answered, “I’ve been working on that science paper that we have due soon. I chose to write about the structure of molecules but there’s so much information that I’m feeling a little overwhelmed by everything.”

“I could help you out, if you want.”

The entire table froze. Everyone was looking back at each other as if they were trying to acknowledge that Odd had just tried to lend his support to Aelita, of all people. When Odd had finally noticed no one was saying anything, he looked up. He swallowed his bread and then nudged Ulrich

“Did nobody hear me?”

“Uh, no, Odd… we… we heard you.”

“Okay, well, how come you all got so quiet?”

Again, the table didn’t react. Odd was looking at everyone, desperately hoping someone would tell him what’s going on. He was starting to overthink. He was wondering if he had stepped over the line by reaching out to help Aelita. He wondered if Jeremie had taken his attempt to be nice as him flirting with Aelita. His eyes continued to flash from Jeremie to Aelita, hoping he didn’t mess anything up between them.

Jeremie was the brave soul who stepped up. He sounded nervous as he stated, “Uh, Odd, don’t take this the wrong way, but… I don’t think Aelita should be getting help from someone who’s got the lowest grade in the class. It just doesn’t seem logical for you to help her. I mean, she does want a _good grade_ on this.”

The table was silent as Odd slowly placed his fork on his tray. This silence wasn’t like the other ones. The other silences were awkward while this one was tense. This was scary. The ball was in Odd’s court now and if he chose to respond with anger then it could be a whole mess. Everyone was praying that Odd wouldn’t take it personally.

“You know what?”

“Odd-“

“I just remembered something.”

As Odd stood up, they were expecting him to cause a scene. Instead, he forced a smile on his face and stated, “I’ve got a lot on my plate for that class anyways so I probably wouldn’t have been able to help. After all, what I’m going to write about is complicated, too, so it’s for the best if you help her, Jeremie. Maybe another time, Aelita!”

“You’re handling this remarkably well…”

“I’ve got to talk to a teacher so I’ll see you in class!”

Everyone watched as Odd walked away to throw out his tray. They all noticed how he didn’t finish eating, which was a clear sign that something was wrong. The friend group let out a loud sigh in unison. If Odd had chosen to throw a fit then that could’ve been a disaster. While they were grateful that he chose to be civil, they knew that he must have been hurt to know wasn’t seen as someone who was smart enough to help Aelita.

Jeremie was nervous for class. It was history class and he sat right next to Odd. Aelita was in the front row and Ulrich was seated diagonally behind Jeremie. He was farther away from his friends if he needed help talking to Odd. He was surprised to see that Odd was already in his seat, doodling on a piece of paper.

He sat down next to Odd and turned to look at him. Odd’s eye shifted dangerously to look at Jeremie without shifting his body. He had a mischievous smile on his face as he joked, “If you keep looking at me like that I think Ulrich is going to get jealous!”

“You’re not mad at me, are you, Odd?”

“Not at all!”

Jeremie felt himself sinking back into his seat, releasing a relieved sigh. Odd went back to drawing on his paper. Honestly, he was still upset that Jeremie thought so little of him but he wasn’t about to say that. He saw how relieved Jeremie got when he said he wasn’t mad. He couldn’t take that away from his friend, even if he was still hurt, himself.

The class carried on with the teacher giving a lesson about the Bubonic plague. As Odd was finishing his drawing, the teacher called on Jeremie, “Now, Jeremie, would you care to tell the class about how many pandemics of the Bubonic plague the world experienced?”

Odd’s eyes widened when he saw Jeremie thinking about the answer. The smaller blonde quickly started writing the number “3” on his paper and colored it dark so it would be unavoidable. Odd pretended to stretch forward, which discreetly moved the paper so that Jeremie would be able to see the number. Jeremie gasped as he looked down, noticing Odd had moved his paper towards him. He looked at the paper and then back to Odd, who was nodding at him.

Jeremie was about to answer by saying “3” but then he thought it through. This was Odd giving him the answer. Odd had poor grades in every class except for his artistic ones. He was grateful for Odd trying to lend a hand but he couldn’t trust his friend to provide him with the correct answers for any class.

“There were two pandemics.”

“No, actually, there are known to be three.”

As the teacher went on to explain when the first pandemic started, Jeremie faced his friend. Odd was now pulling his paper back towards him, flipping his pencil over to start removing his work. He didn’t miss how Odd aggressively erased the “3” that he had made. Odd gasped when he was erasing so hard that he ripped the paper. He blinked at what he had done. He needed to get control of his emotions before he drew more unnecessary attention to himself.

“Is everything alright, Odd?”

“Just dandy like a dandelion, Jeremie!”

“How’d you know the answer was three?”

Odd moved to grab his notebook from his backpack. He flipped it open to a fresh page and went on to create more pictures. Jeremie was able to see the tons of pages filled with writing on the other pages in the notebook, but he chose not to comment on it. He opted for watching Odd shrug before beginning to draw a flower.

“It was just a lucky guess.”

* * *

By the end of the day, everyone was starting to get the feeling that there was something wrong with Odd. He was being quiet in class, he took notes from time to time, and he even raised his hand to ask questions about the lesson. Everyone was starting to worry about Odd. They had wondered if he was still bothered by what happened this morning.

It was their last class of the day: science. Jeremie and Aelita took their seats in the front while Ulrich and Odd were behind them to the right. Odd pulled out his notebook, fully intending on not participating in Mrs. Hertz’s class. Odd was not a fan of this woman. She always thought so little of him and she made it her mission to humiliate him in front of the class every chance she got.

Odd believed that if he just remained quiet for her class then she wouldn’t bother him. He wasn’t in a good mood and he didn’t feel like having Mrs. Hertz add to it. He grabbed his pencil and started to draw on the clean page. Ulrich would watch Odd out of the corner of his eye from time to time. He just wanted to make sure Odd was alright. On the outside he seemed fine, but on the inside he felt like a whirling dervish of intense emotions.

He didn’t know what it was about today but it seemed like everyone was out to question his intelligence. His friends were politely telling him that they would never ask for his help because of his poor grades. He had teachers constantly trying to tell him that he would never amount to anything. All these scenarios kept playing over in his head until he felt like he was going to scream.

“And what are you writing your report on, Odd?”

“Huh? What did you say?”

“You _are_ handing in a report, aren’t you?”

Odd shrunk back in his chair as he heard a majority of the class laughing at him. He hung his head when Mrs. Hertz laughed at him, “Or are you going to hand me another one of your origami cranes? Which, might I add, are nothing short of being below average! Oh, so what could you possibly write about in your report?”

Odd’s friends were glaring at the teacher. It was one thing to make a light jab at Odd but it was completely different to continue to kick at him when he was down. They hated how the rest of the class followed Mrs. Hertz in making fun of Odd. Some of them were hurling insults at him, which earned laughter from the teacher.

The blonde gulped as he sat up. It seemed that he had finally gained the courage to stand up for himself. His voice was soft as he stated, “Well, actually, I was thinking of writing my report about the oldest and most common theory of quantum mechanics, the transformation theory proposed by Paul Dirac.”

All the laughter disappeared when they heard Odd’s report idea. Mrs. Hertz was trying to hold back her laughter as she snickered, “Do you even know just how complicated that theory is? Do you even understand what’s being unified in that theory? You’d be better off writing about photosynthesis! And even then I can’t see you getting a passing grade!”

The class burst out laughing at Odd, but this time he had enough. He stood up abruptly, startling everyone in the class. He slammed his hands on the table as he hissed, “Actually, I do know what’s being unified in the transformation theory. It unifies and generalizes the two earliest formulations of quantum mechanics, which are matrix mechanics and wave mechanics.”

The entire room was silent as Odd continued on his science rant, “This transformation idea refers to the changes a quantum state undergoes in the course of time, whereby its vector moves between positions or orientations in its Hilbert space. Time evolution, quantum transitions, and symmetry transformations in quantum mechanics may thus be viewed as the systematic theory of abstract, generalized rotations in this space of quantum vectors. Does that answer your damn questions?!”

“Th-that… that’s correct.”

“But, I’m not finished, yet.”

“Odd, that’s quite enough-“

“You’ve been wrong more times than I have!”

Odd’s friends had never seen him so upset and angry before. For every step forward Odd took, Mrs. Hertz was taking a step back, “I’m _so sick_ of you saying that atoms can only be broken down into electrons, protons, and neutrons! You got a degree in this subject, didn’t you? You’re supposed to know science, right?”

Mrs. Hertz gasped when her back made contact with the chalkboard. Odd was in her face growling at her, “Matter gets much smaller and even more complex than that! Quantum physics predicts that there are eighteen types of elementary particles, sixteen of which have been detected by experiments! Protons and neutrons are made up of quarks, which are then held together by gluons! I bet you didn’t learn about that when you were getting your degree so you’re welcome! You’re a little more competent now!”

The older woman was trembling. Yet, Odd showed her no mercy as he laid into her, “But, I must congratulate you because you have invented a new kind of stupid! It’s a ‘open all the cages in the zoo’ kind of stupid! It’s the kind of stupid you develop when you actively try to diminish a student and not realize how much you’re hurting them! I don’t know what’s going on in your personal life so I stood by and let you do it! I did that for you but you’re too stupid to see that!”

“So, congratulations for the rest of your _fucking_ life!”

No one knew what to say. Mrs. Hertz was shaking as she stared back at a now panting Odd. He turned away from her and started to make his way towards the door to leave. He was fuming with rage and he knew if someone even dared to speak to him right now he would explode. Of course, Mrs. Hertz was the unfortunate soul to speak to him again.

“Odd Della Robbia, you stop this instant!”

“ _No.”_

The blonde whipped around to face her, causing the entire class to gasp. He was glaring daggers at her as he snapped, “I’m done with your pointless lessons! I’m done with everyone in this damn room thinking I’m the class idiot! Has it ever crossed your mind that the person you use as a personal punching bag isn’t as dumb as you think?! Clearly not!”

She opened her mouth to speak but she closed it. Odd’s hands were clenched into fists as he finished roasting the teacher, “Did you know that a full head of hair on a human is capable of supporting twelve tons of weight? Well, all your hair still wouldn’t be strong enough to hold that damn ego of yours, _Suzanne!”_

Well, that was a mic drop if anyone had ever seen one. Odd stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind him. Everyone’s jaws dropped at the scene that had just played out in front of them. Absolutely no one thought that Odd would ever snap like that, let alone drop science knowledge while doing it. The teacher sank back in her chair, completely dazed by the roast that was aimed at her.

“Well, shit.”

* * *

“What do you mean Odd roasted Mrs. Hertz?”

Yumi was shocked to hear about what Odd had done in class. She had been hearing people gossiping about Odd laying into Mrs. Hertz but she didn’t believe it. She had joined their friends for some food in the cafeteria when she found out that all the gossip was true. She knew that Odd was known to crack jokes in class but completely roasting a teacher was out of character for him.

Ulrich was poking his food around on his plate, clearly stuck in his own head. Jeremie fixed his glasses as he answered, “It was the most educational roast I’ve ever heard because he used science. He was yelling about quantum mechanics one second and then he was saying Mrs. Hertz was wrong when describing atoms and the next thing I know he’s telling her she had a big ego… and to top it all off he addressed her by her first name.”

“What do you think got into him?”

“I’m not sure.”

“That doesn’t sound like something Odd would do.”

Aelita nodded along with her friends before chiming in, “I’m worried about him. I’ve seen Odd get mad but it was always over something small so he was back to himself in minutes… but, this was different. I’ve never seen him so upset before. He was like a completely different person.”

“That’s still Odd.”

Everyone looked at Ulrich, who was staring at his tray. He sounded bitter as he continued, “I’ve seen him when he’s mad and that… that was something else. I’ve never seen him like that so there has to be something that’s been bothering him for a long time for him to snap like that. I don’t know what’s bugging him but I know he needs me. I’ll call you guys when he’s doing better.”

The friends nodded and watched as Ulrich walked away. Ulrich wasn’t sure what was wrong with Odd but he knew he couldn’t leave him alone like this. He knew there was the chance of Odd taking his anger out on him, but he would take it all for his lover. He took a deep breath as he opened the door to his shared room with Odd.

He was surprised that the door was even unlocked, but what was even more surprising was that Odd was crying. He had his back against the wall with his knees brought up to his chest. Ulrich quietly closed the door and made his way over to his lover. He was thankful Odd didn’t scream at him when he sat next to him on the bed. Ulrich had no idea what to say to him but he knew he had to be here. He nearly jumped when he heard Odd’s watery voice.

“I just couldn’t take it anymore…”

“Couldn’t take what?”

“I’m not stupid.”

“Wh-what? No one thinks you’re stupid, Odd.”

“Everyone does!”

Ulrich wished he had his ear plugs in because he was not ready for that screech. He turned to face Ulrich as he cried, “All of you think I’m dumb or something! Mrs. Hertz thinks I’m the stupidest kid in class! Jeremie wouldn’t even take my help in class! Aelita doesn’t want my help for her report! At least Yumi’s honest when she calls me dumb! Everyone thinks I’m stupid but I’m not…”

“Then, why do you let people think you are?”

The desperate look in Odd’s eyes broke Ulrich’s heart. The blonde answered sadly, “If I let people know I was the smartest in the room then that would mean Aelita and Jeremie aren’t. If they’re not the smartest in the room then they’d beat themselves up… and I don’t want them doing that to themselves. It’s overwhelming to act dumb, but it’s also overwhelming to be smart.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, it’s just… too much for me.”

“Hey… you can talk to me.”

“I know… I know I can.”

He took a deep breath to settle his breathing. He avoided Ulrich’s gaze as he stated, “I get overwhelmed easily, but I can’t show it. Being smart in front of everyone just sort of triggers my anxiety and I feel it creeping over me. It gets so hard to breathe and I just… when you’re smart everyone expects you to know everything. You can’t get anything wrong and I can’t handle that kind of pressure.”

Slowly, his eyes met Ulrich’s. His sounded so small as he whispered, “I didn’t think it was going to be this hard. I just wanted to be someone else here. I was like Jeremie back in Italy but I didn’t want to be that anymore. All these subjects just come so naturally to me but I knew if I was smart here then nothing would’ve changed… so I dumbed myself down.”

He wiped his tears away with the back of his sleeve. He laughed bitterly before continuing, “I thought about going back to how I was but then I saw how much it meant to Jeremie to be the smartest in the room. I saw how much he loved the adoration from classmates and teachers… and then I saw how much he connected with Aelita because of how smart they are… and I couldn’t take that away from him… from them.”

Ulrich wrapped an arm around his lover’s shoulders, bringing him close to his body. The brunette had a sad smile on his face as he asked, “But, why would you keep this from me? Did I do something to make you not feel comfortable talking to me about it?”

“I didn’t think you’d like me if I was too smart.”

“Odd, your intelligence is so attractive to me.”

“Y-You… you really think so?”

Odd was looking up at his lover with wide eyes. Ulrich had a bright smile on his face as he answered confidently, “Of course! Odd, how many people can say that their boyfriend can turn a topic like quantum physics into casual conversation? I was proud of you before and I’m proud of you now. You don’t have to be someone else when you’re with me because I love everything about you.”

The blonde squealed with joy and pounced on his lover, showering him with kisses and quick “I love you’s.” Ulrich was laughing as he felt those soft lips all over his face. Eventually, he managed to catch Odd’s lips with his own. The blonde’s eyes widened but quickly shut as he returned the kiss.

When they pulled away they were smiling at each other. Ulrich shook his head as he chuckled, “I can’t believe you could’ve helped me pass my classes and you didn’t do anything! You know, you’re kind of the worst, Odd!”

“You still would’ve failed with my help!”

The two lovers were laughing at each other. The brunette pressed a kiss to his lover’s forehead quickly. He pulled away and asked softly, “But you’ve got to tell me this… what’s your favorite subject and why? If you’re good at everything then what do you love to study?”

“Besides art?”

“Besides art.”

“Well, then that’s easy. Science.”

Ulrich was so fascinated by his lover as he elaborated, “I think science is my favorite because it’s like the universe, it’s never ending. Theories are constantly being proven wrong or improved when we learn more. Science is a subject that continues to adapt so there’s always something new to learn. Science is so complex but that’s what I love about it.”

“Is physics your favorite branch of science?”

Odd removed himself from his lover, brushing a stray piece of hair out of his face. There was a blush on his face as he confessed, “Honestly, yeah, I love physics, especially quantum and astrophysics. I like biology and chemistry, don’t get me wrong… but, physics studies matter, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force and…”

“And what?”

“I’m not boring you, am I?”

The blonde was blushing as he fumbled over his words, “I know you said you’re proud of me and all but I just don’t want all this science talk to bore you. I don’t want you to get annoyed when I talk about science so if I’m ever being annoying-“

“Shh. Tell me more about physics.”

Odd’s eyes pooled with tears at those words. His vision was starting to get blurry from the tears in his eyes as he listened to Ulrich, “If you could only see how you light up when you talk about physics… I never want you to stop talking to me about science. If this is what makes you happy then I never want you to stop telling me about this stuff. I might not understand what you’re talking about, but I know how much this means to you… so, tell me more.”

Ulrich spent the next hour listening to Odd talk about physics. He didn’t really know what Odd was talking about at first, but as time went on he was starting to understand bits and pieces. When it was Odd talking about physics everything made sense. He was kind enough to simplify what he was talking about from time to time, whereas the teachers wouldn’t bother with doing that.

They were brought out of their conversation when they heard someone knocking on the door. The two males looked at each other before Ulrich shrugged and got up. His eyes widened when he saw that Mr. Delmas was standing there with Jim at his side. Their faces were unreadable, which made Ulrich nervous for his lover.

“Odd Della Robbia needs to come with us.”

“For what?”

“That’s none of your concern.”

Ulrich was about to snap back but he paused when he felt a gentle hand on his back. He looked to his side and saw Odd giving him a small smile, “It’s okay, Ulrich. You should have the others meet up in our room. I’ll be back in no time.”

The brunette wanted to object but Jim reached forward and grabbed Odd by his arm. Ulrich watched as his lover was dragged away from him. He stepped out in the hall and forced a smile when he saw Odd look over his shoulder. Odd struggled to wave to him but Mr. Delmas shoved him forward.

Odd was expecting to go to the principal’s office so he could get six hours of detention for cussing at a teacher. He wasn’t expecting to go to the library. He was confused when he saw papers on the table and a man sitting across from the open seat. He looked around and noticed that the library was completely empty. He was guided towards the chair, to which he sat in.

He looked down at the papers and noticed it was a test. He turned around in the chair as he asked, “What am I doing here? What are you trying to make me do? If you’re mad at me for what I said to Mrs. Hertz then why did you bring me here?”

Mr. Delmas sat down next to Odd. The blonde’s eyes widened when the principal explained, “You should be in trouble for what you said to Mrs. Hertz, but she requested that you be subjected to an IQ test. She said you spoke about quantum physics and other aspects of science that she didn’t learn about until her college career. You won’t be in any trouble if you complete this test to the best of your ability.”

“But-“  
  


“You have five hours.”

Odd gulped when he heard Mr. Delmas and Jim leave the room, leaving him alone with the test proctor. He picked up a pencil and slowly started to fill out the test the best he could. As he continued to take the test, he found himself enjoying it. The proctor was confused when he saw Odd smiling. He had never seen someone so happy to do an IQ test before so this was unusual.

Odd was actually upset when he finished the test. He thought that it was a lot of fun and he debated asking the proctor for another one. He had waited for a while but he was quickly getting bored. It was when he was about to leave the library that the proctor dropped his test on the ground. The blonde was confused but then he had the same expression on his face when he heard his results.

“You’ve got to be kidding me…”

* * *

The blonde was walking back to his room with the most dazed look on his face. People were waving at him in the halls but he didn’t even notice. He felt like his feet were moving of their own accord, as if they knew where to go without him having to send signals down his spine to them. He didn’t even realize he was at his door until he walked in and all his friends were staring at him.

Everyone had smiles on their faces when they saw Odd, but their smiles vanished when they saw how lost in his thoughts he was. Ulrich stood up as he asked, “Uh, so, Odd… how was detention? They sure had you in there for a while! It’s late so-“

“I took an IQ test.”

The room was quiet. This reminded them of the time Jeremie had to take a test to gauge his intelligence. They all remembered how scared they were that Jeremie was going to be transferred to another school because he was too advanced for Kadic. They remembered how Jeremie failed the test on purpose because he didn’t want to leave everyone.

“H-How… how did you do?”

“190.”

Jeremie and Aelita’s eyes widened. Jeremie fixed his glasses before he gasped, “But that… that’s higher than my IQ _and_ Aelita’s! It depends on the test you used but normally anyone who scores over 140 has a genius level intellect! But, Odd… are you serious? Did you really get a 190?”

“Why is it so hard to believe that I’m smart?”

Jeremie was stumbling over his words, trying to find an answer. Odd glared at everyone. His voice was cold as he said, “Has it ever crossed your minds that I’m a lot smarter than I look? You heard me talking about quantum physics and, mind you, I didn’t stutter. Now do you want my help with your report, Aelita?”

Jeremie and Aelita avoided Odd’s gaze at all costs. Yumi nervously laughed before saying, “Now, Odd, no one here doubts you. If you got a 190 on the IQ test then you got a 190. That shouldn’t change anything. You’re still our friend and we’re happy for you if you’re happy about your results, right everyone?”

Odd crossed his arms as he saw his friends hesitantly nodding in response. Jeremie’s voice was dripping with sarcasm as he said, “Well, it’s nice to know you’ve been smart this whole time so you could’ve helped me out countless times with the supercomputer or materializing Aelita. Thanks for all your help, Odd.”

Odd marched over to Jeremie, who rose to his feet. The smaller male threw his hands in the air as he laughed bitterly, “Oh, like you would’ve believed me if I had told you I knew how to materialize Aelita! You really believed it was an accident that day I fixed your coding for her materialization! Like candy’s just going to magically fall on the exact keys!”

The smaller male returned to crossing his arms in front of his chest as he continued, “And even if you believed me then I bet when the going gets tough you’d just turn to me because if I’m wrong then you can just blame me! But, if I’m right then you’d just start relying on me for everything! You never needed me to be smart! I helped out behind the scenes but you’re so blind you could never see it! No wonder you wear glasses, Jeremie!”

“Odd, I never realized-“

“Because you didn’t want to!”

He was seething with rage at this point. His grip on his clothes was tightening as he growled, “It’s so easy for all of you to think I’m dumb! It was so easy for you to forget that I’m quadrilingual! In case you didn’t know what that means, it means I speak four languages fluently! English, Italian, Chinese, and Japanese! Even being bilingual like you all thought I was would mean I’m smart!”

Odd was breathing heavily now. No one knew what to say. Ulrich gulped as he made his way over to his lover. He wrapped his arms around Odd’s waist, pulling a reluctant blonde against his chest. Odd was mumbling insults under his breath as Ulrich was tugging him a couple feet away. He wanted to put a little bit of space between Odd and their friends to try to help everyone take some time to calm down.

The brunette leaned in, whispering into his lover’s ear, “Hey, just take a deep breath. Don’t get overwhelmed and you’ll make it out alright. You’ll be just fine. I promise you don’t have to worry about a thing. Don’t let this break you down. You’ve got me by your side so we can get through this together… just don’t get overwhelmed.”

The three friends watched as Ulrich whispered sweet nothings into his ear. Slowly but surely, Odd’s breathing started to even out. Eventually, he unfolded his arms and allowed them to hang by his side. He looked up and realized that his friends were staring back at him with worried expressions on their faces.

He gently broke out of Ulrich’s grasp. He took a deep breath before saying, “Look, I didn’t mean to snap at all of you. I know I didn’t help because I let you all think I’m not smart so I didn’t make this any easier on any of us… but, now that we know the truth I don’t want anything to change.”

Jeremie looked like he was about to ask a question but Odd held a hand up to stop him. Odd sighed and stated, “Yes, you can ask me for help on the supercomputer or anything else but don’t instantly turn to me when things go wrong. You and Aelita are smart, Jeremie. One genius is okay, two geniuses are fine, but three is enough. I’m more of a last resort or a hail Mary kind of person.”

Everyone was starting to feel better now that Odd was calm. He was smiling as he finished, “I might have a real knack for school but let’s not forget that I’m trying to be an artist. Sure, I’ll start picking up my grades in my classes but I don’t want to be remembered as an Einstein. I want to be a Picasso or a Monet.”

Odd was beaming when he felt his friends wrap their arms around him for a group hug. He was hopeful that things wouldn’t change between them. His level of intelligence might be gifted but that wasn’t the only gift he had. The gift was surrounding him, and Odd had to admit that he sure loved presents.  
  


“It wouldn’t hurt to be like Da Vinci either, though!”

**Author's Note:**

> Translation:  
> C'è un posto speciale all'inferno per persone come te. = There is a special place in hell for people like you.
> 
> Thank you for reading! :) I wanted to leave the story this way because I felt like it would allow for me to continue writing it if another chapter was desired or if inspiration to add more came later. I honestly really liked letting Odd be the smartest in the room because there's so much potential to actually be smart but he's always brushed off. I wanted to give him a moment to shine. I hope you all enjoyed! I'll be around making edits! Thank you all for reading and I hope to be back soon! :)
> 
> Stay safe my friends! I'll catch you on the flipside! :)


End file.
